All my life has been defined by the American Christian way of thinking and living. Born into a Christian home and raised in church, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior at the tender age of three. After high school, I enrolled in Bible college; it was there I met and fell in love with the Christian young man who would become my husband. My adult life was spent working predominantly in the church world as a Minister of Music and a private piano teacher. I had very little experience living and working outside of Christian surroundings.
After my husband’s death in 1997, life took a very different turn. I finished the degree I started before I met Rich. After graduating from Northwest University in 2002 with my Bachelor of Arts in Music and my TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) Certificate, I began to comprehend that I still had “work” to do—work unlike anything I had ever done before! During the following year, I started making plans for another enormous life change; I prepared to move to Beijing, China to teach English as a Second Language to Chinese university students.
Upon my arrival in China, I found myself for the first time facing life outside of my normal church-world environment. Where I had always been surrounded by Believers in the work place and in my social circles, I suddenly found myself surrounded by non-Believers—the majority of whom had never even heard of Jesus Christ and knew nothing about God’s love displayed in the gift of His Son. In addition, as a foreign expert, I was not allowed to tell them. How could I possibly be the witness for Christ that I so longed to be? The answer to that came in what I was allowed to do and say ~ I was allowed to answer questions when asked and to say, “I’m a Christian.”
One of my most defining moments regarding how this could look in my new environment came in a classroom just two months after settling in to my new job. I was encouraged to teach American culture lessons as part of my English curriculum. I have a bit of a creative streak in me and often teach things in a less than conventional format! Such was the case the week of October 27, 2003.
I decided to teach a “culture lesson” about Halloween. In an effort to help them “experience” a bit of it for themselves, I first taught the students about costumes, trick-or-treat, and various traditions for celebrating the holiday in America. I explained the origin of the holiday and talked to students about the two ways it’s celebrated in our country—one way focusing on fear and death, and the other celebrating a fall harvest festival. I held up a very large bowl filled with an assortment of candy. Each student waited expectantly for their turn to “knock” on the desk and say “Trick-or-Treat” before being allowed to take candy from the bowl. The students were captured by the fun of our “American cultural exercise.”
Since my classes were oral English, the last portion of each lesson was spent in oral discussion. I had thought long and hard concerning what discussion question would work well with our lesson that week. I had finally arrived at one that seemed suitable and would also be interesting. Given that the students had been taught about one aspect of the celebration centering on fear and death, I thought my question would be a good one.
Jerry’s class was the first class that week to respond to my discussion question. As was our custom, we set up our chairs in a circle. I told them that today’s discussion question was this: “What do you think will happen to you after you die?” There was an audibly loud gasp from the students! At that point, I realized that death was not something they would normally discuss.
Beginning on my left, one by one the students gave their answers to the question. I sat stunned at their responses. I heard things I had never heard before! In that discussion time, I learned more about the many belief systems of my students than I could have learned any other way! For the first time, I came face to face with beliefs concerning death that were polar opposites to my own. My heart was broken as I listened to their beliefs and heard the fear and uncertainty they expressed.
Jerry was seated on my right and was the last student to give his answer. When he finished speaking, he turned to me and, in a perfectly set up segue, said, “So, what about you, Teacher? What do you think will happen to you after you die?” I was taken aback as this unplanned teachable moment tumbled into my lap! I breathed a quick prayer and answered the question by beginning with the words: “Well, I’m a Christian, so I believe what the Bible says.” I went on to simply share the hope I have of spending eternity in Heaven with those I love who have gone before me.
Prior to my time in China, I had shared Christ with others many times; however, it was most often through the medium of music and in a setting conducive to communicating God’s love and grace. That day in the classroom marked a new beginning for me. I began to ask God daily to help me be a creative and wise teacher—to show me ways to encourage the questions that would allow me to pass on His story, His love, and His grace to those around me. My heart cry became that I would “hear” every opportunity God presented to me to tell others about Him. This is still my prayer today.
My question to you? What do you think will happen to you after you die? If you have not yet come to Jesus Christ asking Him to forgive you of your sin and inviting Him into your life, your answer to the question may be “I don’t know.” Today you can know with confidence that you will spend time without end enjoying all God has waiting for you. Simply come to Christ today and say, “Jesus, I believe You are the Son of God. I believe You died on the cross for me. Please forgive me of my sin. I receive You as my Savior and Lord. Amen.”
If you prayed that prayer, please send me a note to let me know. I would love to be in touch with you. You can contact me by email at: mjdowning1970@gmail.com.
If you already have a relationship with Jesus Christ, I have a different question. Do you wonder how can you be a witness for Jesus Christ in your daily life? Ask God to show you creative moments and ways to speak of Him. Ask Him for spiritual eyes and ears to see and to hear those moments when they come. You can rest assured He will answer and give you unlimited and interesting ways to communicate Him to your world. Remember, fellow Believer, Christ wants all of us to tell others of His great sacrifice of love.
“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’”¹
What creative ways will He give you to tell those around you?
¹Matthew 28:18-20
Very nice Gator. Good job!
Thank you, ‘Dile! I am grateful for your encouragement!!!